The recent emergence of Amazon.com has caused investors, and even owners, to become skeptical about Best Buys future. With many people switching from shopping at stores to shopping online, Best Buy has felt the devastating effects, evidently showing up on their annual reports. Profits have decreased by 92% in total and their year over year sales fell by 3%. However, on the bright side, the playing field has become a little more even, with fewer states allowing internet retailers to sell their product exempt of taxes. Is this the difference that Best Buy needs to make a comeback into this fight over the electronic sales market?

            I believe that Best Buy must find a competitive advantage or a point of differentiation over their competition. It has become evident that people are using Best Buy as a showroom before actually buying the product at home. Best Buy has launched a price matching approach to combat this dilemma, but is it enough to gain back market shares. It may prove to be profitable if they can revive some of their lost customers, but the price matching strategy will be a risky venture due to the decrease in revenue and increase in costs.

http://www.webpronews.com/best-buy-plans-to-price-match-internet-competitors-this-holiday-season-2012-10

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/616/3076111/Best-Buy-to-match-some-rivals-online-pricing-

Research in motion, the innovators of the first ever smartphone, have been steadily spiraling into bankruptcy. On Feb 17^th 2011, Rim was at an all-time company high with each share worth $68.92. Today however, it has plummeted to $8.06. Rim used to dominate the smartphone market and control consumer taste, but now they lie in the shadows of Apples Iphone and Samsung’s galaxy. However, there may be a shed of light at the end of the tunnel for Blackberries Research in Motion. With speculation over their new product, Blackberry 10, people seem to be a bit more optimistic about Rims future. Many investors believe that this product may be the final chance for Research in Motion to make a healthy recovery from the devastating past year. The prototype has been successfully marketed so far. As a result,  Rim has experienced a small increase in stock price strictly based on speculation over the new product due to be released early next year. Speaking as a part owner of Research in Motion, I hope that the company will make a comeback in the smartphone market, and that Blackberry 10 will be a big hit with consumers.

“In the big picture, nobody, not even RIM knows whether this is going to work for them,” Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder.

http://www.canoe.ca/Canoe/Money/News/2012/09/28/20243526.html

In the past month of September, the Canadian economy has experienced a substantial increase in job availability. A dramatic gain of 52,100 new jobs gave economists a reason to be optimistic about the future Canadian economy. However, even with the increase in jobs, unemployment rate unexpectedly increased by one tenth of a percent to 7.4%. Economists believe that an increase in job availability caused a increase in demand for jobs; thus, increasing the unemployment rate. This sudden prosperity is also being experienced by the U.S with a net increase of 114,00 new jobs. However, there are many pessimists that believe that this good fortune may not be sustained for a long period. The global economy is still feeling the effects caused by the European debt crisis and the slowing Chinese economy.

I believe that the increase in jobs will improve the  Canadian economy by increasing the average income and decreasing the unemployment rate in the long run. Businesses will prosper due to the increase in income of the average consumer and society will benefit as a whole. However, it is still unsure how the consequence of the crisis’s in the global economy will directly affect North America.

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1267326–unemployment-rises-despite-big-job-gain-statscan